Placket-closer



Patnted Feb. 28, |899.

(Application 'led May 31,

(No Model.)

r n .6 a .n Al M UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

WILL J. WORDEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PLACKET-CLOSER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,207, dated February 28, 1899.

Application iiled May 31, 1898. Serial No. 682,173. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern,.-

Be it known that I,WILL .I WORDEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Placket-Closers, of which the following is a specification. A

This invention relates to improvements in ladies skirts, and it contemplates the provision of a cheap, simple, and efficient means for keeping the placket closed at all times while the skirt is being worn and to allow the placket to be freely opened in placing and removing the skirt from the wearer.

The invention and its many advantages will appear from the following description and claims when taken in connection with the anneXed drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a part of a skirt with my improvements applied and the placket open ed. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken through the placket or edges thereof in a closed position and my improvements applied.` Fig. 3 isa perspective view of my improved device removed from the skirt. Fig. 4 is au edge view of the same, partly in section; and Fig. 5 is a similar view taken in a plane at right angles to Fig. 4t.

Referring by letter to said drawings, A indicates two similar ilat strips of steel, whalebone, or other suitable material'having suitable elasticity for the purposes designed. These strips may be made very light and are each of a length corresponding with that of the placket of the skirt. These strips are connected at their lower' ends by means of a suitable plate B, casting, or the like and a pivot rod or pin a, which takes through one of the strips and the plate, as shown, so as to form a laterally-movable hinged joint for said strips, which are allowed to bear with their iat sides upon each other. This plate or connection is preferably provided on one side with a lug or projection b, so as to set the plates off a sufcient distance at their connected ends, and the plate is also provided with a longitudinally-disposed socket c to receive'one end of one of the strips A, which strip is provided with an elongated slot CZ and receives a transverse pin or stud e, taking through the walls of the socket, as shown. By this construction it will be seen that, while the two strips are pivotally connected at one end, one of the strips is allowed a slidable movement on the other and in the socket of the connection, and while a plate suchl as I have described in detail is very desirable and preferable for the purposes named, yet I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the construction of connection which I have shown, as it is simply necessary that the strips should be connected in a pivoted or hinged manner and one allowed a limited slidable movement with respect to the other.

In applying my improvements to a skirt it is simply necessary to secure one strip in each seam of the placket, which may be done by stitching it or otherwise, the slidable strip being arranged to cover the other strip when the placket has been closed, or, in other Words, the slidable strip should be on the outside of the fold or placket. The hinged ends of the strip are at the base or lower end of the placket, and the disconnected ends may be secured within the belt or band fof the skirt, as better shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. It will thus be seen that a skirt bearing my improved device may have the placket opened just as freely and be worn as comfortably as a skirt without the improvements, and when the band has been closed upon the body of the wearer the placket will necessarily be held in a closed position. By reason of one of the strips having a slidable movement it will be seen that the placket will not open by the lifting of the skirt and the customary movement to one side of a person, as any tendency to bow apart would be obviated by the give or sliding movement of the outer strip and the bending or bowing of one will cause the other to hug more tightly thereto and necessarily avoid separation.

When providing the connection with a projection or lug b, the strips will be held suficiently apart to accommodate for the thickness of the binding g, as usually employed, and yet allow the skirt to come quite close together.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim iS- 1. The improved placket closing device comprising two yielding strips and a connecting-plate; one of the strips being pivotally connected to the connecting-plate and the IOO ing strip pivotally connected to said plate, and a second yielding strip arranged in the socket of the plate and adjustably connected with said plate whereby it is enabled to move lengthwise with respect to the same, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLJ. WORDEN. Witnesses:

EsTELL A. WORDEN, JEssE D. WORDEN. 

